**Need Setup HELP** with Classic Amiga 2000 HARD DISK (Bridgeboard)

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

When you say "whole can of worms". Do you mean I couldn't hook up a drive Larger than 4GB? Or just couldn't use more than 4GB of that larger drive? (but could still hook it up to work).

Don't partition more than the first 4GB of available capacity. Large hard drive support was included in later versions of the operating system, via various methods. If you were (for example) to upgrade your Amiga to run OS 3.9, it would be pretty easy. With 3.1 it's doable (again through various hacks/patches/modifications). 2.1 or older it would be a real struggle.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I see a Donate Link on this web site, and since I've gotten so much in so little time I feel compelled to donate a small token of appreciation to assist the upkeep and a thanks for all the information compiled here.
I clicked on it but seem like no donations are active.
Are the folks running this site collecting donations? I'd  hate to send money into a black hole.

I clicked on the link to see what would happen and got taken to a Paypal payment page, plus an auto-response in my inbox.  So it appears to still be working if you have a Paypal account?

...which reminds me, I should probably toss a couple bucks for hosting, considering how much time I spend on here.  :laughing:

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I figure that any higher density disk can be formatted LOWER Capacity (No the other way around)

AFAIR there's a risk of data loss by formatting disks incorrectly, but I don't think it matters much in this case.  

Re: how does the drive detect:

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Imho Indivision is the best route. Pop it in, use almost any modern-ish (VGA-style) monitor, OS-independent. They usually run around $90-$95 new.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

such that  I can still use my Amiga Monitor from the Amiga Video Port at the back of the A2000?  (correct?)

Correct.  It piggybacks inside the Denise socket (and your original or ECS Denise plugs in on top of that).  It allows you to display on a modern monitor (through it's HD15 "VGA" port) and a classic monitor (through your Amiga's native 23-pin output) simultaneously.

Attached is a photo of me doing just that.  

Does Indivision give me an option to get more resolution for Desktop GUI (WB1.3, OS3)?

[/B][/COLOR][/COLOR]

Yes.  With the latest firmware (1.10) it allows you to use SuperPlus, HighGFX, and HD720 screenmodes.  Which on a classic Amiga allow you to display 800x600x16 colors, 1024x768x4 colors, and 1280x720x4 colors screenmodes, respectively.  (Note that you will need at least OS 2+ and preferably 3+ to use these screenmodes.  Amiga's with AGA chipset can use these screenmodes up to 256 colors, but ECS limits to 16 colors or 4 colors.)

I'd forgotten that you're doing all this on a Rev. 4 motherboard.  Again just IMHO, I'd look for a Rev. 6+ board as a drop-in replacement.  It's going to provide a lot of fixes over the older model.  See list at bottom of this link:

http://amiga.resource.cx/mod/a2000.html

Obviously this all depends on your budget, etc.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

As for Indi, from screenshots I have seen, it appears to replicate both OCS and ECS Denise very well. It is a very mature product now. The higher 24 bit resolutions need RTG support in both Kickstart (2.04) and Workbench version (2.1 upwards). But it defaults to old school Amiga resolutions so you can see what you are doing, when setting up. (RTG = ReTargetable Graphics, IIRC).

Indivision is not an RTG card.  It's ability to work with some 24-bit screenmodes is more of a curiosity than a functional option.  See my previous posts about what additional screenmodes you'll be able to utilize with Indi ECS - although they, too, will be pretty slow at 7MHz.  :lol:

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

These snazzy 256 colour modes etc, aren't they just for the A600 for some reason? I have been told in the past put I can't remember now and if so I can't remember the reason why.

I forgot about Graffiti-emulation mode. Never got it to work with anything, I think you might be right - only works on the A600. From what I recall when I researched it at the time it was because the A600 installation goes through the A603/A604 bus instead of the Denise chip socket. There's a few videos on YouTube of people using it to play games like DoomAttack and NemacIV (games which support Graffiti mode) on that hardware configuration.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Your PHOTOs really shows it off.
The Amikit screen shots are pathetic if this product is that good. http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=82&products_id=918
(Why would they show those SCREENSHOTS as examples. It's what turned me off)

Haha.  Maybe AmigaKit would like to chime in on why their photos are so terrible?  It's a shame that my two-year-old camera phone takes better photos than anything on their website.  

Are you saying I need A MOBO replacement to enjoy the quality you show?

Not at all.  If you look at the list in the link I provided you'll see that newer (Rev. 6+) boards provide many fixes over the older boards.  If your older Rev. 4 board is working fine, then carry on, I suppose.  

---> Probably complicated to setup across all AmigaOS's (WB1.2,W1.3, OS2x,3x etc. I wan't to be able to demo all possible)

AFAIK no RTG software works under 1.2/1.3.  Maybe a few esoteric custom, home-brewed solutions.  Either way you're setting yourself up for a much greater challenge, trying to use RTG under 1.2/1.3.  Not to dissuade you, good luck if you try!  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I guess my question is do I need RTG to display WB 1.2/1.3 in native display format.  I just want to be able to run it.  Also run Old Games from Floppy/Gotek.

RTG is for newer games that support graphics cards, and productivity software / Workbench.  It will have no effect on older games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retargetable_graphics

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

If you have a monitor that syncs to 15KHz then all you need is the C= silver adapter to display standard Amiga screenmodes.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I must've missed something, but why do you want the ROM switcher?  Is it for some backward compatibility with your bridgeboard that you need 1.2/1.3?  IMHO, if you're booting your Amiga off a hard drive and have tons of extra RAM available, why not just WHDLoad games to solve compatibility issues with older versions of the OS?  Stick 3.1 on there and be done with it.

You are going to run into challenges with your Rev. 4 board.  Right off the bat I can think of two: you'll need to relocate or replace that capacitor to physically fit the Indivision (as Pat mentioned), and the limitations in your chip RAM.  Of the 1MB installed on your motherboard, Rev. 4 generally defaults to using that as 512K chip and 512K fast.  Since you'll have the 8MB of fast on the GVP card you really want as much chip as you can get, from other places.  In your case you're going to want to convert that extra 512K on the motherboard into chip.  This usually involves replacing your Agnus chip on the motherboard with a newer model (8370 or 8371 --> 8372) and changing a jumper or two.  Minor soldering may also be required, it's been years since I've done it, I forget exactly but instructions should be easy enough to find.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_Agnus

The last consideration with your Rev. 4 motherboard and OCS Agnus are if the Indivision will work with them.  It was mentioned earlier that it needs an ECS Agnus.  This may not be the case (I can't think of why it would need that), so you'll be a guinea pig on that claim.  

You won't require the ECS Denise unless you want the full ECS chipset.  Not required with the Indivision, but some of us just like to have it.  Again, just IMHO, I would buy it for that price.  Just to have it.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Need to understand the big picture of A2000 / OS upgrades possible.

That's easy:



How much are you willing to spend?  With the exception of Zorro 3 / Mediator-style busboards, and easy(er) access to PowerPC boards (so no OS4), the A2000 can be expanded in almost every way an A3000/A4000 can.  When the Vampire cards become more readily available you'll be able to pack a ton of power in them.  I think you just really need to determine exactly what you want to do with the system, and how much you're willing to spend.  :hammer:

You can start by reading every page of these links:

http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/

http://amiga.resource.cx/

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

You don't need the ECS Denise.  It provides additional screenmodes for productivity & applications with Workbench 2+, and is largely irrelevant with an Indivision.  Like I said, some people just like to have it (whether that's for the sake of "completeness", or because they want to have "the latest and greatest", etc.).  It's a relatively cheap and easy upgrade, just pop in a chip.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_Enhanced_Chip_Set


WHDLoad is free (formerly shareware) software which allows you to play many old floppy-based games off hard drive, and fixes a variety of general compatibility issues (which varies by game, of course).  IMHO it's a much more modern solution than something like a Gotek.  Done right, on a system running WHDLoad if you want to play a game you just click on its icon in Workbench and it loads.  When you're finished you click on its 'quit' key and it closes (and returns you to your Workbench).  No more rebooting, no more swapping floppies, no more long load times, etc.  It does require more memory (I would recommend at least 4MB fast and 1MB chip) and at least a 68010 (to take advantage of the 'quit' key), in most cases.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHDLoad

http://whdload.de/

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Plus I only have a 68000 CPU, and I hear that Quit in WHDLoad doesn't work, without at least a 86020).  So reboots needed anyway.

68010. They're like $5 bucks on eBay. But your choice, lol. :lol:

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Is this the one I need (just to be sure)  MC68010P10

I'd get the one with the picture.  Maybe it's just a "feel good" thing, but if they send the wrong item at least I can point back to the picture as an obvious "you sent the wrong thing!" moment.  Also, from the item description, you're more likely to get it a little faster.

It's not harmless, there is software that fails on anything other than a 68000.

Anyone ever put together a list of this?  From what I remember it was only one badly written game from 1986 (Arctic Fox?) that failed.  There's also some software that fails on any version of Workbench newer than 1.1, but I'd suspect the likelihood of anyone running into any issues with that in 2017, especially with WHDLoad, would be pretty much slim to nil.  

Edit: Look at this funny thread I just googled up:  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/net.micro.amiga/g05c2-5Fumc/cbCDhoMv_xUJ

Dave Haynie posts from 1986, lol.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I know nothing aboutthe On Board FastMem vs the GVP DMA memory.  But all appears to be there.  I think?

Yes, all there.  Looks good!  

I would still really recommend performing the mod to give yourself 1MB of chip ram, however.  (would leave you with 1MB chip and 8MB fast, which is about the most an unaccelerated, non-2MB Agnus-having, A2000 can support)